Enter the World of a NIGHTMARE

Meet Bill today. Bill is 67 years old. He is living a nightmare each day he wakes up. I am not sure any of us can help him but my heart nearly explodes when I think of his story.... because his story could be anyone of our stories.

Bill came into my life in direct response to my prayer. It is the prayer that I live, pray and believe in... "Lord please give me people that no one else can help. With your grace and help I will do my best to offer them hope."

Here is his story. I offer it so that you will begin to pray with me that God will work a miracle for this man. He certainly needs two things...

• One – people that will pray with him, and
• Two – people that will stand with him in love and acceptance.

Bill has two children, a boy aged 15 and a girl aged 13. Both live with their mother in England now. They haven’t always lived in England – but rather here in Ontario – not far from Peterborough.

Bill is a criminal in the eyes of the law now - "ex-offender". He has served 15 weeks in jail. He has a record.

What did he do you ask?

He spanked his son and daughter. His son, when he was about 13, went to school upset with the discipline he had received and told his teacher. The school contacted the Children’s Aid Society who in turn contacted the police. Bill was arrested and convicted and then put in jail. The story is complicated.

Yes there are facts that are not as easy as the words above. These facts likely complicated the story even more. Bill hit his son with a shoe horn. He also confessed, under questioning, to spanking his daughter as well.

In Ontario, the Children’s Aid Society(CAS), is a group that works to protect children. In many cases they perform legitimate and invaluable work to keep kids safe and also to get them out of dangerous places in homes that are in crisis. However, and this a careful word in this article, there are times it appears that they are more out of control than the parents they are protecting kids from. I know the risk in even making that statement. The perception is they are a law unto themselves. The group answers to no one. Once they have acted or reacted there is little anyone can do to reverse the decisions they have lead courts through. The damage is done.

In Bill’s case it is even more complicated. It appears that through continued contact with CAS his wife could take no more. She may well have been threatened by CAS officials that they were going to take the children away from her if she had anything to do with Bill, or allowed him to have any contact with his children. She fled to England. She also filed for divorce and got it to make sure that they, CAS, doesn’t get access or try to get access to the kids. A very normal thing for a loving mother to do is to flee and protect.

I know that something has happened to your thoughts as you have read this posting. Your emotions are drawn many ways as mine were. You are not sure of what to do for Bill. Was CAS correct in their evaluation? Did Bill deserve what happened? Is there more to the story than what you have read here? What kind of man is Bill anyway?

For some of these questions I have not yet received a full answer. But I know Bill is a man that needs help. I know that he is a solid Christian brother and we pray together.

Finally, as you make up your mind to pray for and maybe with him, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Bill is a University Graduate that has attained his Masters Degree. He has been a teacher and school principal. He has served in large corporations and government departments. His has a wealth of experience and years of commitment to family and children. He has written three good books, about family and relationships, with others soon to be launched.

Each day Bill wakes his nightmare is there again. He lives on a senior’s pension now. Part of that pension is taken each month automatically and banked for his family. It leaves him with about $400 for rent and not much for food. Bill teeters on homelessness. This month he has to leave the place he has been living in for these past years. The older man that he shares the house with is changing and has asked him to move out. He has an automobile that has broken down recently but is running now. Thank God for that because it may well serve as his residence if no room comes available at $400 per month.

Yes, he fits the description of my prayer, some one that no one else can help. I will and can, by God’s grace, help him.

Please pray for Bill today.